Today I dropped by a smaller grocery store to check out some prices and they had some good deals where I decided to buy a few lemon and limes. The total was only two dollars which wasn’t too bad for how much I was getting. As I went to pay the lady just punched in the amount as you would normally expect. I then took out my credit card and she paused a little. However, she then gave me the machine to process the card. She then politely informed me that the business actually had a minimum purchase policy for cards and it would be better to bring cash next time. I actually told her I did have cash if they wanted and she was excited to process it that way instead. I even mentioned that I normally use the credit card for cashback rewards.
However, in this case I do understand the business side where smaller businesses can’t really afford to process so many small orders with a card due to the credit card transaction fees. So I was more than happy to pay cash considering how much I was saving. What kind of surprised me in many ways was how the lady didn’t just give like a blanket “Sorry, minimum purchase amount required” type of reply. It felt like she recognized I was a new person and so making the sale can be kind of important to potentially have a repeat customer. It definitely made me seriously consider going back again.
That can be a tricky thing where you have to determine where you would draw the line between being strict by the book versus adapting to the customer’s situation. So many times that gesture of going out of your way though can make a long lasting impression to get a repeat customer. In my opinion, it gives one the sense that the business values every person that is doing business with them.